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    Cagewriter

    UFC on Fox 2′s Three Stars: Oliveira, Johnson and Evans

    By Maggie Hendricks | Cagewriter – Mon, Jan 30, 2012 10:42 AM EST

    Charles Oliveira celebrates at UFC on Fox 2 (Getty)

    The UFC's second foray into network television was not exactly thrilling. Some of the best moments happened during the Fuel broadcast, with the fights on Fox providing less-than-exciting action. Who stood out for you? Here are Cagewriter's Three Stars. Tell us yours in the comment section or on Facebook.

    No. 1 star -- Charles Oliveira: In his first fight at featherweight, the Brazilian used a leg submission that caused every MMA writer on press row to say, "What was that?" We settled on a calf slicer, while Oliveira walked away with the Submission of the Night bonus.

    No. 2 star -- Lavar Johnson: If you haven't watched Johnson's KO of Joey Beltran, go watch it. We'll wait. OK, now that you've watched him take out Beltran with huge uppercuts, you likely will agree with him taking home the Knockout of the Night bonus.

    No. 3 star -- Rashad Evans: Put yourself in Evans' shoes. Though you're the No. 1 contender for the light heavyweight belt, injury and bad luck has forced you out of the actual title bout more than a year. Then, you're told you still have to win another fight to get that title shot. You could sulk about it, or you could use the five rounds provided to beat up and outwrestle Phil Davis. Evans chose the latter.

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    49 comments

    • jon
      jon  •  Cambridge, Massachusetts  •  3 months ago
      The failure of these UFC cards is from FOX believing they can use the same formula from football to make MMA popular. We do not need 20 minutes before each fight to build up and tell a story. MMA is unique in the saturation that it has on the Internet, so those 20 minutes are useless and absolutely kill the momentum in a card. I found myself switching to college basketball games over and over. Great stories aren't going to make the sport, great fights are. And by limiting the number of fights you have on a card, you are limiting the chance for great fights.
      • The Unsilent Majority
        The Unsilent Majority 3 months ago
        Well said.
      • jon
        jon 3 months ago
        And on top of that, they need to stop using the FOX NFL theme song. Immediately. I watched this with a bunch of people who were unaware of MMA, and this did nothing but make everyone laugh. Have Chuck Liddell just grunt into a microphone for 10 seconds and use that if you have to, anything is better.
      • Anderson M
        Anderson M 3 months ago
        Absolutely, well said
    • A G
      A G  •  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  •  3 months ago
      I don't know, the Cub Swanson ko with the visual of the mouth piece bouncing off the cage was pretty good too.
    • seventh circle
      seventh circle  •  3 months ago
      Evan Dunham and Cub Swanson both deserve honorable mention if not the star that went to Rashad.
    • Robert C
      Robert C  •  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma  •  3 months ago
      Bisping should get an honorable mention for barely losing to the Greatest Fighter in the world. (Chael's words, not mine)

      The Evans/Davis fight deserves no mention anywhere other than on insomnia cure blogs.
      • SugarMrPoon
        SugarMrPoon 3 months ago
        the decision was the right call but bisping showed that he has great tdd, better than anyone in the mw division. He still didn't do much damage with his striking though, still i was impressed with mike. Overall Id say bisping should still be a fight away from another title shot. Maybe he fights Munoz next to determine the next guy in line after silva v sonnen
      • Sbigshaun
        Sbigshaun 3 months ago
        He can't be in line for another title fight. He never had a title fight to start with.
      • Robert C
        Robert C 3 months ago
        yes, a fight with Munoz would make sense for Bisping. However, Munoz is probably going to fight Chael for the interim belt. Rumors saying that Spider is going to be out past the summer. Chael could end up being correct about not facing the Spider.
    • Hold Deez
      Hold Deez  •  Surfside, California  •  3 months ago
      Shane Del Rosario took out Johnson very easily just like every other fight hes had... If hes fully healthy coming into the UFC, that's my pick for the next fighter to have a meteoric rise in 2012, the guy is a freak
      • NorCal
        NorCal 3 months ago
        SDR is one of my favorite fighters to watch, I hope he gets well and comes back soon.
      • Marky
        Marky 3 months ago
        Yeah I look forward to seeing Daniel Cormier and Chad Griggs in the UFC as well...
    • Evan
      Evan  •  Scranton, Pennsylvania  •  3 months ago
      Honestly, after watching te fight i think Chris weidman desrves alot of credit. He went from 217 to 185 in 11 days. he took a fight against a one time middleweight title contender in 11 DAYS and still one. yes they both gassed out. Maia should be just embarrssed, right on weidman
    • Zach
      Zach  •  Lansing, Michigan  •  3 months ago
      I think Cub should have shared the KOTN with Johnson
    • Joseph
      Joseph  •  Avenel, New Jersey  •  3 months ago
      I guarantee that there are a hundred aspiring mma writers out there who could have identified that calf cutter, but for some reason, Yahoo feels the need to employ an overopinionated know-nothing. Maggie, use this job to bolster your resume and fins another job reporting on something you know, and are passionate about. Let someone with knowledge and passion for the sport do the reporting.
      • NorCal
        NorCal 3 months ago
        They let her write about football too, it looks like somebody picked the most popular sport, and the most up-and-coming sport, even though she knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about either sport!!!
      • Nick42`
        Nick42` 3 months ago
        You 2 just want to see your nick on the web page. It is hard to take any of your criticize seriously when you avidly read Maggie and them bash her time after time.
        If you REALLY didn't like her work you WOULDN'T read her articles.
        The truth is you Maggie haters are just misogynists.
    • NorCal
      NorCal  •  3 months ago
      REAL 3 STARS: Cub Swanson, Chris Weidman, Lavar Johnson
      • Tony
        Tony 3 months ago
        I can go with that.
      • Krumpled4skin
        Krumpled4skin 3 months ago
        I still think the Lavar fight wasn't that great (great KO but beltrans a bum) - though have to agree with other 2
    • Moore
      Moore  •  Sacramento, California  •  3 months ago
      I don't think the Evans fight was that boring, but he certainly wasn't a star on the card.
    • crazy
      crazy  •  Fort Worth, Texas  •  3 months ago
      thats cool and all for them but who won fight of the night I hope it was Duhnum and forgot the guys name he fought but that was a slug fest
    • BobbyLight81
      BobbyLight81  •  Richardson, Texas  •  3 months ago
      Told y'all when Zuffa bought out Pride that Dana White would ruin the sport. Until they start taking a percentage of the fighter's purse for not going all out I won't pay for anything the UFC puts out.
    • Al
      Al  •  Cicero, Illinois  •  3 months ago
      I tried ot put myself in Evans shoes. I was scared shittttttttttttless thinking about how Bones is going ot destroy me.
    • phil
      phil  •  Miami, Florida  •  3 months ago
      I forgot to mention that Bisping has truly come along way and has looked
      improved with each fight.

      I still can't stand him though.
    • phil
      phil  •  Miami, Florida  •  3 months ago
      I don't get people whining about free fights especially when there will be more and more of them on.
      I think many folks just feel the need to complain and critique everything and anything.

      I'm stoked about the UFC / FOX deal and as time goes on they will iron out the wrinkles
      and continue to improve the product...............the FREE product!
    • PMG
      PMG  •  New York, New York  •  3 months ago
      Calm down Lavar Johnson, that's like the first guy you finished in like forever. Ever hear of being a humble winner Bro?
    • The Unsilent Majority
      The Unsilent Majority  •  3 months ago
      Rashad doesn't belong on this list, the main event was awful. Demian Maia should get dishonorable mention for worst game plan ever. Nobody on the main card should have been on the 3 Stars list.
    • M.S.
      M.S.  •  Pompano Beach, Florida  •  3 months ago
      As one who complains about many of the 55 dollar ppv's, the fuel tv fights werent bad, and Sonnen/Bisping was too close to call, so that fight coulnt have been that bad. The other 2 werent great fights, but I watched them all, and have no complaints.. Dont you think it was better than the HWT 1 minute fight with tons of commercials. That was the laugher... If they would have put the Guida fight on, it would have been an improvement.
    • Tony
      Tony  •  Irvine, California  •  3 months ago
      How on earth is Beltran in the UFC?
    • Al
      Al  •  Cicero, Illinois  •  3 months ago
      And out wrestle Phil Davis, what fight were you watching? Rashad kept Davis at bay with jabs and on occasion avoided a take down or reversed it when he did get taken down. It looked more like Evans used BJJ on the mat more than wrestling. But what do I know. You were the wrestling team jock cleaner at Missou.
      Btw, this was one of the worst mains in UFC history.
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